When you’re anxiously awaiting your next job opportunity, sometimes it’s easy to walk the fine line between being a determined job seeker and desperate one. Of course, it’s not uncommon to feel desperate when you’re ready to get a job, but being desperate is something that should be practiced in the privacy of your home – not where others, namely prospective employers, can catch wind of it. If you’re not sure whether you’re giving off an air of determination or desperation, here are some ways to make sure you’re coming off as a determined job seeker.

Keep the Usual Formatting In Your Resumes

Desperate job seekers have been known to do some crazy things when trying to find work. One has been creating the crazy resume that is meant to garner attention but actually steers people in the other direction.

You may feel that you’re in the middle of a last ditch effort to get someone to pay attention to you so you want to submit your resume in a quirky font or add hearts as bullet points – what do you have to lose, right? Well, there is actually as much to lose today as there was when you started your search right after leaving your last job.

Don’t allow the search to drive you to do crazy things. Instead, keep your composure, submit your great traditional resume and feel confident that it will help you get hired.

Follow Up but Don’t Harass

While you may feel anxious to get out there and tackle every hiring manager you see, pin them down and stuff your resume in their face, of course, this is something you wouldn’t do. However, in the midst of your job search, there are ways to actually come off as though you’re just that desperate.

For instance, you could hound a hiring manager with whom you’ve shared your resume or pester a person who may be a networking contact for you. In both cases, it’s good to hand over your information and let the people do their job. There’s nothing wrong with following up, but harassing someone is not acceptable.

Don’t Overstress Your Search

It’s good to dedicate quality time each day to your job search. In fact, many say that it’s good to give an entire work day’s effort to the search. However, you don’t need to spend every waking hour looking for a job, contacting individuals, blogging and sending out blasts on Facebook. You have to allow some of the search to manage itself.

A good way to remedy this is to spend time outside or enjoying some other favorite activities. Being anxious and desperate doesn’t really help you and won’t have a hugely positive impact on your search.

Whether you’re turning in crazy resumes or telling an interviewer how anxious you’ve been to find work, there is a such thing as being too desperate. So take time to pace your job search and make sure to relax so that the process doesn’t overwhelm you. Most important, feel confident that the hard work you’ve given will inevitably offer the results you desire.